Is Windows 7 going to be the next XP ? Will Windows 10 have us longing for the functionality or familiarity of good 'ol Windows 7 ? Ask yourself how you like Windows 8.1 ... A "Drowsy" form member's post mentioned trouble getting/downloading a copy of Windows 7 . I was surprised to see the discs no longer being made. Lucky I don't really need one ... But that is the reason XP is running on several computers here at home. Having XP in windows7 machines has raised driver issues. I learned that common failure during installing XP on Windows 7 machines is just a SATA setting bios option. It would be nice having Windows 7 on a disc before it's no longer to be had. Welcome aboard the Computer-go-Round.

How long will I be able to buy a retail copy of Windows 7?http://zdnet4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r...o-box-shot.jpgMicrosoft stopped offering shrink-wpped retail copies of Windows 7 to resellers effective October 30, 2013, but the channel has enough retail copies of full licenses and upgrades to last for a long, long time. How long? Well, Microsoft ended retail sales of Windows XP on June 30, 2008, and yet you can find legal, shrink-wrapped copies of those products from resellers even today, with minimal searching.Does this affect the end-of-life dates for Windows 7 support?
No. The sales lifecycle is a totally separate set of dates from the support lifecycle.
Extending the sales lifecycle for Windows 7 Pro does not affect the support milestones for Windows 7. You can find the full details for all versions of Windows and Office here: When will Microsoft pull the plug on your version of Windows or Office? For Windows 7, the support dates are the same as they’ve ever been.
Windows 7 RTM support ended in April 2009. For Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, Mainstream support ends January 13, 2015; the Extended support period ends on January 14, 2020, after which no security updates will be made available.When will sales of Windows 7 consumer PCs end?
OEMs like Dell and HP have already made it difficult to find PCs running Windows 7 Home Premium. In fact, when HP introduced three Windows 7 desktop PCs last month alongside its 33 Windows 8.x machines, it was treated as headline news.
Even today, Dell is offering Windows 7 Home Premium as an option on some machines, but you'll pay a $50 premium to replace the standard Windows 8.1.
Under Microsoft's rules for its royalty OEMs, those machines can no longer be offered for sale after October 31, 2014. If you want to buy a new PC with Windows 7 preinstalled, you'll have to go to the business side of the store and buy a PC with the pricier Windows 7 Pro preinstalled.What about Windows 7 PCs that are already in the sales channel?
OEMs can continue to build new PCs with consumer versions of Windows 7 up until the deadline of October 31, 2014, and stockpile them or ship them to retailers and distributors. Those PCs will continue to be available for sale as long as they’re in stock. In practice, that means the stock will shrink over time but you will still be able to find them for months or years after the end-of-sales date.Can my neighborhood PC seller still build me a Windows 7 PC?
Yes, so-called System Builders can install Windows 7 on new PCs and resell them as long as they use a sealed copy of Windows 7 OEM software. Microsoft will continue to make OEM copies of Windows 7 Pro available for resellers on the same timetable as large OEMs. System Builders will be able to buy consumer OEM versions of Windows 7 (Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate) from any reseller who has it in inventory.How do today’s changes affect downgrade rights?
These changes make it possible for PC manufacturers to continue to offer new PCs with Windows 7 Pro preinstalled until at least October 31, 2015, with a reasonable likelihood of the actual end-of-sales date being extended even further.
The changes have no effect on downgrade rights, which allow you to buy a new PC with an OEM license for a business edition of Windows and then install an earlier version. In order to take advantage of downgrade rights today, you must purchase a new PC with an OEM license for Windows 8 or 8.1 Pro (PDF). That license includes the following provision:

Can I downgrade the software? Instead of using the Windows 8.1 Pro software, you may use one of the following earlier versions: Windows 7 Professional or Windows Vista Business.
This agreement applies to your use of the earlier versions. If the earlier version includes different components, any terms for those components in the agreement that come with the earlier version apply to your use of such components. Neither the manufacturer or installer, nor Microsoft, is obligated to supply earlier versions to you. You must obtain the earlier version separately. At any time, you may replace an earlier version with Windows 8.1 Pro. To enable downgrade on this computer to Windows 7, you must change the settings to boot into legacy BIOS mode. If the BIOS setting is not changed back to native UEFI mode boot prior to installing Windows 8.1 Pro, Windows 8.1 Pro will install; however, the following Windows 8.1 Pro functionalities will not work as they rely on UEFI mode boot:

Secure Boot,

Seamless Boot experience,

Network unlock for Bitlocker for computers with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and

eDrive support.

The easiest way to exercise downgrade rights is to buy a new PC with the downgraded version installed by the OEM. That configuration means you have full support from the OEM for Windows 7 Pro. The PC you buy includes media for Windows 8.1 and the right to upgrade to that version (also with support from the OEM) at any time.
Those PCs are widely available for sale today, as I noted last month (see Where can you still find a PC running Windows 7? ) Most of those models are sold with a Windows 8 Pro license and Windows 7 installed as a downgrade.
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What other interesting things about Windows 10 will we enjoy discovering ?

sleepy

06-11-2015 02:23 AM

Digitalrivers has discontinued ISO downloads for Win 7. You can download a copy from Microsoft. Follow the links in this page, but you'll need a Genuine Win 7 Product Key for the exact version that you wish to download. Good Luck!

About the above mentioned failure during installing XP in newer computers. There is a SATA setting that will cause a failure about half way during installation. Has this happened to you? What is this setting called ? :headscratch:Wish I could remember. I will try to track it down. It is a bi-polar setting so try the other one. Knowing this BIOS SATA setting could have saved several sick computers I have known.

Could be>>>Choose the ATA instead of AHCI on the SATA configuration..?

sleepy

06-13-2015 03:40 AM

I don't know. In BIOS screen, I'd be looking for either an ATA/SATA switch or a Parallel (ATA) / SATA (Serial) switch.

However, Wikipedia says:

Quote:

The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host bus adapters in a non-implementation-specific manner.

So, does disabling the AHCI switch cause the BIOS to fall back to using ATA? When in doubt, I'd look up the manual for the motherboard or BIOS chip.

Coil_Smoke

06-13-2015 11:07 AM

I believe it is a "legacy" backwards compatibility setting. Not understanding the difference between SATA and ATA I would guess it does revert to ATA...

So far most everything works..after a few reboots and driver installs.

Coil_Smoke

08-06-2015 05:54 AM

Wow...Two nights ago a guest on AM Coast To Coast said "Windows 10 uses customers bandwidth to distribute Windows updates". That's right, to save on Microsoft's internet usage they are using other peoples computers to serve updates to their customers... Wow

StevOz

08-06-2015 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coil_Smoke
(Post 105489)

Wow...Two nights ago a guest on AM Coast To Coast said "Windows 10 uses customers bandwidth to distribute Windows updates". That's right, to save on Microsoft's internet usage they are using other peoples computers to serve updates to their customers... Wow

Correct and annoying that this is set as the default, that said it can and has been disabled here..

Look at that use of double speak ... how updates are "DELIVERED" ... Not to be confused with " Received " ?

StevOz

08-07-2015 08:55 AM

Well to be sure there is a lot of smoke and mirrors with this W10 update to be sure.

Then again that Something Happened error is perhaps the finest MS error report ever! When what actually happened was err nothing and that was it, no clues as to why reported, except an obvious failed download/install. Problem here was I had peerblock running and it was obviously working because it blocked something from happening. :)

sleepy

08-07-2015 07:16 PM

Windows 10 is using torrent delivery?

StevOz

08-07-2015 08:07 PM

Torrent like delivery, where W10 will use part of any spare bandwidth you have to upload W10 and it's update to other users, to lessen the strain and I gather cost of to their severs.